The New Recruit
by MoiraC
Summary: It has been a month since Loki and the Chitauri attacked New York and you would think that the world wouldn't need the Avengers, right? Well, that's what everyone thought, but they were wrong; the Avengers have never been more needed and are struggling to protect the Earth. Fury's solution to the problem? Bring in the agent that can solve all of their problems.


Nick Fury sat as his desk, watching the many news screens displayed in front of him. It had only been a month after Loki attacked New York and yet the world still seemed to be in shambles. As his eyes gazed from one screen to another, his eyes caught a glimpse of a familiar patriotic shield. Fury hadn't expected the world to need the Avengers again so soon, yet there they were, defending the world from whatever problems the world had today...which is exaclty why Fury had the idea to bring in a new recruit. Granted, the Avengers had only been together for a month, but with Thor busy in Asgard and Bruce was not always able to help, they needed an extra person and he knew exaclty who could take the job.

All he had to do know was wait for the Avengers to finish up their buisness in Saudi Arabia and then introduce their new recruit.

* * *

"Are you freakin' kidding me Fury?" Tony groaned as they walked through the halls of SHIELD Headquarters. "You're caling together a team meeting right _now_?! Can't this wait-"

"No Stark, it can't," Fury said bluntly.

Tony huffed. "C'mon Fury, look at us! We're in no condition to do this right now." It was true; he, like everyone else, was still in his suit (except for Bruce; he had to change into actual clothes). Tony and Steve and taken off their masks and/or helmet, but other than that, it looked the five of them had just walked off the battle field (again, Bruce was the exception).

Fury began to speak, but Steve cut him off. "No offense, sir, but Tony does have a point-"

"SEE?!" Tony exclaims. "Capsicle agrees with me! And he's the Goddamn supersoldier!"

Steve glares a little at Tony, but doesn't say anything.

Fury sighes. "I understand but this is important," he says. "Besides, it's not really a meeting; it's more like an introduction."

"An introduction?" Bruce asks.

"Who are you introducing us to, our new teammate?" Tony jokes, laughing a little.

"Actually, Stark," Fury says, "that's exactly what I'm doing."

All five of them stopped in their tracks and stared at Fury in shock; even Clint and Natasha were a bit surprised. "You're joking," Tony said, staring wide-eyed at Fury.

Fury raised an eyebrow. "Do I kid Stark?"

Tony sighed and grumbled something unitelligilble under his breath.

"Is a new member really necessary, sir?" Steve asked. "I mean, we basically have everything under control here-"

"Basically doesn't cut it, Captain," Fury says. "Besides, with Thor gone in Asgard for the moment and Banner not always being able to come on missions with you, an extra member wouldn't hurt anything."

"How do you know we can actually work with this person?" Clint asked, crossing his amrs and looking at Fury skeptically.

"Trust me, Barton, you can," Fury replied. "Besides, you and Agent Romanoff have already worked with her-"

"You're recruiting a _girl_?!" Tony exclaimed.

"What's wrong with having another girl on the team?" Natasha asked coldly.

"Nothing," Tony corrected quickly. "Having a girl would be fantastic!" Tony kind of over exaggerated the last word, but Natasha accepted the correction anyway.

"Anyway," Clint says, "what do you mean that Natasha and I have already worked with the new recruit?"

Fury smiles. "You'll see," he says. "Now, any more questions before we head off?"

Tony raised his hand, but then lowered it after a few moments of consideration.

Fury nods. "Good," he says. "The recruit's this way."

* * *

"Pick up the pace, boys!" a tall young woman called out, standing in front of a group of SHIELD trainees who were currently doing push ups. The woman had her long black hair tied back into a bun with her silver streak of hair hanging loose next to her face. Her silvery blue eyes scanned the room and she said, "Okay boys, up off the floor and begin the jumping jacks."

The agents quickly get up off the floor and begin their set of jumping jacks. The woman walked up and down the room, looking for any trainee that needed help, which turned out to be all of them. She sighed and said, "C'mon boys, my grandmother has more life than you- Latimer! Don't take a break when I'm not looking; keep going!" She cast a bit of a nasty glare in the trainee's direction and kept on going with the training routine, barely noticing Fury and the five Avengers walking in.

"That's the new recruit?" Tony asked in disbelief. "But she looks so young- she's got to be at least 18 or 19, maybe 20-"

"She's 18," Natasha confirmed, smiling a little bit as she saw who they would be dealing with.

Tony gaped while Steve and Bruce had a very shocked look on their face. "She's training SHIELD agents at 18?" Steve asked in disbelief.

Natasha shrugged. "She's been here for 8 years," she said. "But don't underestimate her, she's one of the best agents we've got."

"Well can we at least get her name?" Tony asked in slight annoyance.

As if on cue, Fury barked, "Roberts!"

The woman training the trainees looked up and once she saw Fury and the Avengers standing there, she nodded and looked back at the trainees. "Okay boys, that's it for today. Tomorrow we start getting into handling weapons and using them."

The trainees filed out, though one seemed to linger a little. He winked at her and said, "Hey babe-"

"Call me babe one more time and I will not only break every bone in both of your hands but make sure that you're crawling out of here on your knees in unbearable pain, understood? I am your trainer and, at the moment, your commanding officer; I am not some toy or a person where you could just pull a few strings and I'm in your arms. You will _not_ call me your babe, darling, sweetie, or anything similar to that effect and you _will_ treat me with more respect than that. Do I make myself clear?"

The trainee's eyes widened a little and he gulped. He nodded slowly and the woman smiled. "Good," she said, smiling a little before frowning. "Now get out, I have some buisness to attend to."

The trainee nodded again and quikckly left the room. The woman shook her head and walked over to the others. "Sorry about that, Fury, but you know how the trainees can get sometimes."

Fury cracked a small smile. "Yes, I do. The threats were a bit unnecessary, though, don't you think?" he asked.

The woman shrugged. "Maybe, but at least I don't have to worry so much about him," she replied, smirking a little.

Fury shook his head and then looked at the Avengers. "Avengers, this is Agent Roberts; she will be your new team mate-"

"Woah, wait," Roberts said, holding up a hand and looking at Fury curiously. "You're bringing me into the Avengers?"

"You didn't clear this with her Fury?" Steve asked, crossing arms. He was obviously unimpressed by this.

"No, he cleared it with me," Roberts said, "I was just under the impression that I didn't qualify-"

"Oh you qualify Roberts," Fury says, "I just said that you weren't ready for the Avengers-"

"Weird, but I remember you saying that I didn't qualify," Roberts replies, crossing her arms. "Something about me not playing well with others, having a bit of a temper, and not willing to follow directions."

"Kind of sounds like me," Tony muttered.

"That doesn't matter now, Roberts," Fury snaps, "besides, I was wrong in my judgement; you've proven to me that you can handle situations like this-"

Roberts scoffs. "Right, being immune to Loki's sceptor powers and being a spy there to feed you information from his secret base proves _everything_."

"You were taken by Loki?" Natasha asked in slight disbelief and surprise. Then she turned on Fury. "Why didn't you let us know? You told us about Barton!"

"Oh so no one even knew I was gone? I'm touched," Roberts said sarcastically.

Fury rolled his eyes a little and said, "There were other pressing matters at hand-"

"Roberts being taken by Loki isn't important?!" Natasha fumed. "You do remember who she is, right?"

Fury sighed. "Of course I do-"

"So why the hell didn't you tell us about it?!" Natasha barked. "You could have at least told Hill, Coulson, or myself!"

"Actually, Coulson knew that Roberts had been taken," Fury said, obviously trying to make the situation sound better, but to Natasha, it only made it worse.

"Both you and Coulson knew and SHIELD _still_ didn't do anything?!" Natasha roared.

"It wasn't my call, Romanoff!" Fury barked. "The Council was already biting my head off about the Avengers; they said I was getting carried away by trying to get Roberts and Barton out-"

"So they were against saving me too?" Clint asked, crossing his arms.

Fury nodded. "The Council figured that both you and Roberts were a lost case and were enemies of SHIELD."

Roberts shrugged. "Well, that wasn't much of an exaggeration," she said. Clint nodded in agreement.

Fury was going to say more, but Tony decided to speak up. "Okay, so if you four are finished with this awkward encounter, can we get on with this? I kind of want to get out of the suit."

Fury rolled his eye a bit, but said, "We're done. Roberts, you know you don't have a choice; you're a part of this team now-"

"Not if I have any say in this," Roberts says, raising an eyebrow.

Fury's eye narrowed. "You can't do that; you're under strict contract-"

"Watch me do it," Roberts growled.

"Why don't you want to be an Avenger so bad-"

"Because I've dealt with what they're doing for most of my life!" she snapped. "And sometimes, it was a hell of a lot worse. I don't want to go through all of that again. Besides, I thought this was a group for extrodinary people not a group for mutant lab rats-"

"You're a _mutant_?!" Tony asked in shock.

"Do you have a problem with that Mr. Stark?" Roberts snarled.

"No, none at all," Tony replied, "I just didn't realize that SHIELD hired mutants-"

"Roberts is a special case," Fury cut in before looking back at Roberts. "You are an extrodinary person, Roberts; your skills could be of great use-"

Roberts scoffed. "Why? Do you need some brainwashed or killed?" she asked bitterly.

Fury sighed and looked at Roberts like you would look at a child who couldn't understand something very simple. "You're skills are beyond that- you _can_ do great things-"

Roberts shook her head. "So far, all my abilities have done is destroy," she said sadly. "Besides, I can't even use the simpliest of my abilities here."

Fury was going to reply, but Steve chimed in. "What do you mean by simple?" he asked. "And what is it exactly that you can do?"

"Well," Roberts replied, "I can do a variety of things. Some of my skills I was born with, others I developed over time and some were even injected into me. And by simple, I mean..." She suddenly turned into a small bird and flew around the room before shifting back to her normal self.

Tony, Steve, and Bruce stood there wide eyed. "Woah," Tony said, "so you can-"

"Shapeshift?" Roberts finished. "Yes I can. And no, Mr. Stark, that was not just a lucky guess. Yes, I am reading your mind right now and no this isn't some cheap Vegas magic show trick and I definently can tell that you are tired and surprised and by the way, thinking of a number in your head isn't the best way to test if I'm a telepath." Roberts raised an eyebrow. "Any more questions?"

Tony's jaw dropped to the floor. "Uh...nope, I think that'll do it," he said, still in shock.

"So you're a shapeshifter and a telepath?" Bruce asks.

Roberts nods. "Yeah, but I can do more than that," she replies.

"Really?" Tony asks in surprise. "I don't know if I want to see that..."

Roberts smirked. "What's the matter Stark? Don't think you can take me on?"

Tony smirks as well and crosses his arms. "Oh I could so take you on..."

Clint and Natasha roll their eyes and say in unison, "No you can't."

Tony, looking a little offended, asks, "Why not?"

"I can't take her down, Stark," Clint says flatly.

"And neither can I," Natasha added. "I can barely pin her."

Steve looks from Tony to Roberts. "Sounds like you should probably sit this one out, Stark-"

"Yes Stark," Fury cuts in, "you most definently should."

Tony shrugs. "But I'll have my suit-"

"Which Roberts can figure out every weakness to and how to dismantle it in seconds just by reading your mind," Fury snaps. "Put aside your oversized ego for once Stark and sit this one out."

Tony sighed and grumbled something unitelligeble under his breath which everyone took as his way to agreeing.

Fury turned back to Roberts and said, "I know this goes against everything we've agreed to and that this isn't at all what you want, but we need you on this Roberts; you are the only person who can help us."

Roberts let out a sigh and grumbled, "Fine, I'll be an Avenger- but I do have one condition."

Fury sighed. "What is it?" he asked somewhat annoyed.

"Once you guys don't need me anymore, let me go back to being a normal SHIELD agent and a newbie trainer," Roberts replied.

Fury nodded in assent. "Sounds fair," he said. "And you have my word on that."

Roberts smiled and nodded. "Thanks Fury," she said.

"Yeah yeah, whatever," he grumbled. "I'll leave you alone to introduce yourself." Then Fury left.

There was a moment of silence before Tony coughed awkwardly and said, "Well, that was certainly interesting."

Roberts shrugged. "Eh, I've seen worse," she said.

Natasha smiled a bit and said, "Yes you certainly have. Remember Korea?"

Roberts laughed. "Oh dear lord, don't even get me started on that."

"So it seems that you're pretty talented," Bruce says.

"I'm not extremely talented-"

"That's bull Roberts," Clint cut in, "you are beyond talented. You have skills no agent here has and what you can do is amazing."

"So what can you do?" Steve asked. "We already know you're a telepath and shapeshifter, but you mentioned having other abilites."

"I'll show you guys later," Roberts said, "it's a bit complicated."

Steve nodded in understandment and said, "Well it's nice to have you on the team and to meet you Agent Roberts-"

"Please," Roberts cut in, "call me Ashley."

Steve smiled and said, "Okay- Welcome to the team, Ashley."


End file.
